Building, restoration, and repair with epoxy

Category Archives: Architecture

The project was creating a shower pan for an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) bathroom in the home I’ve been building in Cedar Key. How does one satisfy shower pan requirements of Levy County Florida and meet ADA suggestions, too, when the floor is concrete, twelve feet above ground? Continue reading →

IIT Architecture students designed and built a building facade panel system. This project was meant to simulate a real-world challenge and give hands-on experience working with carbon fiber. Their instructor also led the group of students who created the FIBERwave pavilion in Epoxyworks 40. Continue reading →

Cover photo: Installing some of the assembled FRP louvered panels on the rooftop residence.

Renew Urban Charleston, LLC in Charleston, South Carolina has been using WEST SYSTEM® Six-10 Epoxy Adhesive to glue hundreds of pultruded fiberglass channels and square tubes together to form decorative louvers. When installed on the building, the louver assemblies create an aesthetic detail that draws attention to the unique rooftop residence on King Street in Charleston. Continue reading →

The FIBERwave PAVILION was designed and built as part of a student-based design research studio. Carbon fiber was used because when coated with epoxy it can become as hard as steel, and added layers enhance its strength. It offers designers great control over structural properties and is incredibly lightweight. Continue reading →

For this issue we’ve dug through our Epoxyworks archive to put together a selection of all building articles. There are two reasons for doing this. For the last couple of months, we have been redesigning the PRO-SET Epoxy product line. This has taken an incredible amount of work by most everyone at Gougeon Brothers. especially those who write and produce Epoxyworks. In addition, since the beginning of the year, the chemists, lab technicians, and technical staff, who are the main writers of our articles, have been moving into their brand new quarters. Continue reading →

Pleasant Bay Boat and Spar Company is a boat building and spar fabrication shop located in Orleans on beautiful Cape Cod. We have been building, restoring and repairing boats on the Cape since 1999.

Shortly after I set up shop, I began making spars and created a niche for the business. With a lot of help and advice along the way, I developed an efficient system to make hollow “bird’s mouth” poles that were turned into masts, booms and gaffs for sailboats, and flagpoles. The machinery didn’t know the difference. Working with boat builders and designers pushed us to go further. The crew expanded to include Doug Ingram, our full time spar maker. The masts got longer and more complicated. Flagpoles were shipped as far away as Bermuda or installed on the facade of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. Our reputation grew exponentially with the level of experience. Continue reading →

Each year The Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center conduct what is known as the P.S.1 / MOMA Young Architects Program. The competitors vie for the opportunity to build a temporary architectural project in the 17,000 square foot outdoor galleries of P.S.1 in Queens, New York. The structure serves as a venue for the popular outdoor music series, “Warm Up” which runs from June though September each year and boasts attendance in excess of 100,000 visitors per season. Continue reading →

Those working on projects that use epoxy for restoration and rot repair often ask, “How long will this last? Will the rot return?” At Gougeon Brothers, Inc., we have lots of in-house test approaches that can analyze tension, compression, shear, and fatigue. We can also predict the consequences of ultra-violet, arid, tropical, and cold conditions. Still, there’s nothing like real-world performance over time. Continue reading →

Last summer I used WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy to repair a small section of rot in a rough sawn cedar trim board on my house. Before gutter was installed, the trim board was wet frequently, but well ventilated. Only a narrow center section of the #2 grade, 1″×12″board seemed to be vulnerable. Continue reading →

These pictures show a recent project in which I put WEST SYSTEM® to good use. The shade slats shown were attached to their notched supports by ‘blind’ nails (8D hot-dipped galvanized finishing, with the heads clipped after being driven into the notches halfway) and 105/209 applied in the two-stage manner. Continue reading →